21 Jan Give Your Friend A Friendship Card

A few papers and two stamps will tell your friends how special they are; to start 2018 with kindness. Scarlet Red is the perfect embossed paper to carry a full size card with a little design. Score and fold a full sheet of 8.5″ x11″ paper in the middle.

Using Memory Box Cottage Globe stamp, cut a filigree hole in the card, wherever you would like it on the card. This one is in the left corner around 1.5″ from the left and about 1″ up. Save the cut-out filigree for another design. Using the Black Midnight cut another filigree and save it for a bit.

The perfect inset for a simple design is the White Corn. Trim it to 11″ by 4.5″ and also score and fold it in the middle. With a thin pencil, outline the cut out in the Red Scarlet, so you can find your position for stamping. Black StazOn pads give good coverage, and whatever is light can be fixed with a sharpie. The paper holds the ink well. The Cottage Globe stamp will fit right into the cut out on the Red Scarlet.

A friendship stamp is used on the inside, your choice; this one is by Hampton Arts. Attach the White Corn inside the card with ScorTape, so that it is fully covering the opening, and the Cottage Glove is even. Trim any excess White Corn. Spray adhesive was used to attach the Black Remake filigree inside the opening. It is always nice to be able to use a die cut as a negative hole and a positive filigree. Each paper brings something special to this quiet friendship card.

The Scarlet Red embossing is elegant in itself. I found it useful to die cut it from the back to preserve the integrity of the embossing and keep the tape from lifting the uncoated surface. In another design event, it would be interesting to compress a design into the surface.

Mohawk makes both the Red Scarlet and the Remake, Black Midnight. They experiment a lot in unusual papers that are green in the making, and nuanced in their colors and textures. The Remake is upcycled leather. Pretty exciting, right? “Upcycled” is adding value to a product so it is better than it was before you started. Using leather scraps to make paper is pretty exciting. It is also recyclable and compostable. Crush is also a paper make with consumable residues. White Corn is made from white corn and is probably one of the greener papers around: All papers are printable either with a laser, or ink jet printer. It is recommended on embossed papers to adjust the pressure, but since most crafters have a basic laser printer, I would simply adjust the setting for the darkest setting possible. Black Midnight would need a white toner printer…ah, someday…so I would do the laser toner and add foil. On black it would be stunning. They all take glue products which allows for Perfect Pearls and similar techniques. Shine Papers, perfect for the envelope, prefer to be laser printed. I don’t always have the exact envelope to match each paper, so a well stocked supply of Shine, White Pearl envelopes in various sizes will always be there for you, to add sparkle. Remake also makes A9 envelopes in Black Midnight that will emphasize the black outline. Enjoy!